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Topic: Solemn chant (Read 881 times)

I like Orthodox chanting very much, but one thing I miss from western tradition is that kind of peaceful solemnity of for example gregorian chant. I often find Orthodox chants either deep and slow or loud and fast. This is not something bad (quite the contrary) but I wondered if Orthodoxy has something similar to gregorian chant.. The only thing I have found so far is some georgian chants, like this one:

Doesn't having chant that isn't solemn defeat the theological purpose of chant in the first place?

This is what the word solemn means according to the dictionary:1. marked by the invocation of a religious sanction2. marked by the observance of established form or ceremony3. awe-inspiring, sublime, solemn beauty

Therefore, all chant should be considered solemn.

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Most Holy Theotokos, Save Us!Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy Upon Me a Sinner!

This is why I highly dislike what they use in the big churches in russia

It is always fast, happy, jumpy, western notation singing

when the Patriarch of Georgia visited Russia, I was very happy when sometimes they did some Georgian style chants it sounded much more solemn, contemplative, and what really made it full was one of the old, humble looking bishops standing there seemed to be whispering something over and over to himself.... I would assume the jesus prayer. I wish he was patriarch of moscow... it almost made me cry

Also I saw a video of the Patriarch of Moscow visit the Valaam monastery, and I was very happy to hear some of the Valaam chants. Of course they put in some of the modern russian singsong chants, but at least about 50% of the time when they had the valaam chants i felt contemplative/prayerful.

"Hades is not a place, no, but a state of the soul. It begins here on earth. Just so, paradise begins in the soul of a man here in the earthly life. Here we already have contact with the divine..." -St. John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily On the Sunday of Orthodoxy